The free will discussion at Quad that took place at the end of March was a fantastic evening with around 45 people attending and making very insightful and informed contributions to the debate. Guest speaker Joe Saunders started us off by introducing the concept of freedom and talked a little about his philosophical idol Immanuel Kant. After Joe’s introduction I reviewed some recent psychological studies which showed that our decisions and actions aren’t as free as we think they are, and argued that in light of this we might have to rethink our conception of ourselves as free agents. Joe then replied, arguing persuasively in favour of freedom. After the talks, the discussion opened up to the audience who had some interesting comments to make on a variety of related topics. Thanks to all that attended and contributed. And special thanks to Joe Saunders who was a fine speaker and advocate of freedom. I hope to get Joe back in the future to contribute to future discussions.
The next discussion will take place on 18 June (1830-2000) where we will examine the concept of ‘equality’. What different types of equality are there? And which, if any, should we aim to achieve? I’m very happy to have secured Katharine Jenkins from the University of Sheffield as guest speaker. Katharine is an excellent philosopher with an original and compelling contribution to make on this topic, so I am very excited about hearing her speak. The format will be the same as usual, with Katharine and I spending about 45 minutes to an hour introducing the topic and identifying the main areas of debate before we open it up to the audience for general discussion.
It’s football season at Quad, so I will try to illustrate some of my philosophical points using some examples from the world of football. This shouldn’t be too hard, as the massive wage differential between top and bottom, and the recent furore over sexist comments made by the chief executive of the Premier League show that most types of inequalities that exist in society also exist within in the world of football. If you aren’t into football don’t worry, I won’t labour the point.
The aim of the evening is to get you thinking critically and challenging your own assumptions about equality. You can come along just to listen, or you can make a contribution to the debate. Either way, I hope it’s going to be a fun evening that will get you thinking.
Places are free but limited, click on the link to the Quad website below to book your place.
http://www.derbyquad.co.uk/exhibition/get-real-philosophical-discussion-equality
If you have any questions, type them into the Twitter thing to the right of the page, or email me at “garfordmoore” followed by “@gmail.com” don’t type the quote marks or the “followed by” bit obviously, I write it like that to avoid spam bots.
Anyway, hope to see you there!
Andrew Garford Moore 